(no subject)

[skygiants]

So the reason why I love Maskerade is very, very simple: IT IS A BOOK-LENGTH PARODY OF PHANTOM OF THE OPERA I MEAN COME ON.

I am a woman of simple needs, okay? And sometimes what I need is Terry Pratchett loling at that the fact that the serial killer haunting the Opera house also writes polite little notes complaining about the first trombone, and also the fact that the Opera house has a SECRET LAKE IN THE BASEMENT.

So I will always love Maskerade with a true and shining love and count it among my Discworld favorites. (Also, and unrelated to any operatic shenanigans, it has Granny Weatherwax helping Death with his bad back! WHICH IS AMAZING and really just makes me want a whole book of Death and Granny Weatherwax on a wacky road trip. Nanny Ogg can go help Susan in the meantime. You can tell me this wouldn't be the best Discworld book ever but you would be LYING.)

That being said, after this read, I totally get why some people might not like this one, because -- well, first of all, not everyone has the emotional attachment to the hilarity of Phantom of the Opera that I do, but also, the ending is actually really depressing!

I mean, okay, yes, they figure out the whole opera ghost thing, but that's not even really the point, and it's also not even really due to Agnes. That's Granny Weatherwax's win, and meanwhile, Agnes -- Agnes our protagonist, awesome, intelligent, talented Agnes -- loses. She loses to the Opera. She loses to the older witches. She loses to every single terrible, stupid social force that tell her she's the wrong shape for what she wants, and it's depressing, and it sucks. And I realize this is a necessary interval to get Agnes in place for Carpe Jugulum, where she does get to win again a little, but that doesn't make the ending of this book any more satisfying.

I'm really not sure there are any other Discworld books where the protagonist loses as thoroughly as Agnes does in this one. Even Rincewind usually saves the world before getting launched into his next horrible adventure. I mean, feel free to prove me wrong, though; I will feel better about it if you do.

Comments

[minkhollow]

I liked Maskerade when I read it, but I suspect I'll find it even more hilarious when I reread now that I've had a proper introduction to Phantom of the Opera. (During said introduction, it occurred to me that "Think Of Me" would be a hilarious tune for the Departure Aria, but courtesy of Rent 'verse shenanigans, the Departure Aria's kind of irretrievably "Musetta's Waltz" in my headcanon.)

But poor Agnes. Agnes deserves to win.

[skygiants]

It is WAY FUNNIER when you know Phantom . . . and, er, especially when you have as encyclopedic a knowledge of Phantom as I do. THAT CHANDELIER IS BOUND TO FALL SOONER OR LATER!

[innerbrat]

I love how I know all your icons now.

[ceitfianna]

I need to reread this one as its one of my favorites too. Though I don't have quite as in-depth a knowledge of Phantom as you do and now I'm trying to think of anything good that Agnes got and can't.

I kind of hate that because throughout the book at the opera, she plays much more Granny's role of going, this isn't right, what can we do to make this work better? Then that's not really acknowledged, she's still taken for granted.

[skygiants]

Don't you wish you had an icon of Olivier Armstrong laughing at people? >:D

[skygiants]

She didn't get to keep any of it -- no praise, no thanks, no flirtation with a hot secret policeman; even her secret voice training is ruined when New Improved Walter is like 'oh well great voice too bad about the rest lol.' It shouldn't suck that much to be Agnes! She deserves WAY BETTER.

[ceitfianna]

Yes, she's far more awesome than anyone lets her be.

[batyatoon]

There is one exchange of dialogue near the end of this book that runs the reader up hard against the essential unfairness of what looks like it should be a merit-based system:

"Have you ever heard of something called star quality?"
"I don't know, is that anything like talent?"
"It is rarer."

Christine becomes the star when Agnes has the better singing voice, because Christine has the better stage presence. And that isn't something she had to work for, any more than her beauty or blondeness ... but neither is Agnes's voice. It's just always come naturally to her.

I hate like hell that Agnes loses, and loses so hard and so completely. And you had best believe that I hate the constant relentless hammering on the point of how fat she is and how people react to that. But ... I do feel that that point still stands, and that it's still well made.

[skygiants]

It's a valid point, but -- it's also kind of a false dichotomy, I think. Agnes doesn't have to be Christine to succeed; there are tons of female roles in opera. The stage has room for talent and star quality both -- I mean, that's why we have people who are famous for being character actors. It's not Christine that Agnes loses to, exactly -- or it shouldn't be Christine that Agnes loses to. She loses to one specific image of success, and there's no attempt at delineating a third option.

[cahn]

...I got to Phantom at just the right age that I have the entire libretto memorized. Clearly I have to read this book! (For some reason I haven't read that much Discworld -- every time I do read one, I like it, but then I forget I want to read more of them!)

[skygiants]

THIS ALSO is my Phantom experience. If you love Phantom, I highly recommend Maskerade! (Well, there are a lot of them, it is definitely easy to get overwhelmed. :D)

[holyschist]

Maskerade was my intro to Discworld (I read it because of POTO, which was the overriding obsession of my teen years), and I still love it to pieces, but you're right, it does screw Agnes over pretty badly.

[skygiants]

I love Maskerade so much that I never really noticed how much poor Agnes got screwed over until this read! I was too sparkly-eyed over the lulz of everything else. Now I'm just like 'but - but - AGNES FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS! D:'

[holyschist]

Agnes is one of my favorites, too...but I'm not so sure, sometimes, about what Pratchett thinks of her.

I'm not entirely sure Agnes knows what her dreams are in Maskerade, though.

[nny]

I know I'm coming to this horribly late, but this discussion has made me think: the reason the ending of Maskerade is so dissatisfying/disappointing is because usually Pterry points out the way the world is by ending with things as they Ought To Be. In Maskerade, instead we get a lesson by him showing things As They Are.

And as a fat girl with a great voice and excellent hair I obviously find this extra disappointing; that even in the Discworld I don't get a happy ending. :(

[skygiants]

Yes! Yes, I think this is it. Discworld has room for happy endings for, I mean, Rincewind, for goodness' sakes. Why not Agnes?

And she gets a little more of a win in Carpe Jugulum, but not enough of one. Not enough at ALL.